Be Prepared

The following Public Health Emergency Preparedness Toolkits contain guidelines, strategies, insights and lessons learned, as well as key tools and prototypes for implementation. Click on the toolkits geared towards hospitals and medical providers.

Hospital Surge Capacity Toolkit
A toolkit intended to assist healthcare facilities in thinking through critical issues related to healthcare surge and to create comprehensive plans to address these needs.

Managing Mass Fatalities Toolkit
A comprehensive toolkit that evolved from recognition of the need for communities to increase their preparedness for managing mass fatalities. Its focus—the care and management of the dead—is one of the most difficult aspects of disaster response and recovery operations. Toolkit materials are based on lessons learned from actual events, including the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. The toolkit provides scalable, operational direction and tools to guide jurisdictions in creating a local plan.

Talk with patients about storing prescription medications during emergencies and environmental disasters

Medications that require refrigeration should be kept cold during a power outage. In the event of a power outage:

• A closed refrigerator will maintain a cool temperature for 2-3 hours.
• To prepare for longer periods without power, remove the refrigerated medications from the refrigerator as soon as possible.
• Place medications into an ice chest or small cooler packed with ice, cooling bricks or cold packs.
• Use a thermometer to monitor medication temperatures to ensure they’re safe to use.
• Avoid freezing the medication by making sure it does not directly touch the ice.
• When the power is out for a day or more, throw away any medication that should be refrigerated, unless the drug’s label says otherwise.
• If a life depends on the refrigerated drug, but the medications have been at room temperature, use them only until a new supply is available.
• Replace all refrigerated drugs as soon as possible.

Resources for people with chronic disease or disability.​​